Period of Adjustment
by Kahta
Summary: After Season 2-Adjusting to a full household, new enemies, school...of course there are problems!
1. Default Chapter

Period of Adjustment  
  
Chapter 1  
  
I was trying to post this as one big long story rather than chapters, but I think at the rate I'm going that it's better to go with the chapter method. This way, I feel like I'm accomplishing SOMETHING!G The other portions of this story will be out as fast as I can write them, but something is telling me that this is going to be a long story.  
  
Summary: Set after season 2. The boys have moved into Mia's house, and they're all adjusting to the new living situations, but there are a few problems. Throw in a new enemy later on, not to mention school starting and our boys are in for an interesting time!  
  
  
  
It started innocuously enough. They'd all settled in comfortably to Mia's house after the final battle with Talpa, and everything seemed peaceful. Ryo, Sage and Cye inevitably rose earliest in the morning. Ryo and White Blaze left the house early each morning for a run, regardless of the weather, while Sage spent a brief period in the bathroom and then headed for the trees behind Mia's house. He'd found the perfect spot to meditate, a gently shaded glade that glistened with morning dew as the sun rose over the hills in the distance. Cye immediately went toward the kitchen in the mornings, having found that he truly enjoyed preparing meals for such an appreciative audience. Mia usually came down halfway through breakfast preparations to help, and Kento and Yuli could always be counted on to be awake and downstairs before breakfast was ready to be served. Rowen inevitably overslept, sleeping through all manner of alarms and wakeup calls, having stayed up too late reading the night before, so the task of waking him usually fell to Kento and Yuli. Between the two mischievous youths, they devised all manner of devious ways of waking poor Rowen, who was almost always in a foul temper after being woken. Breakfast was a lively meal, with everyone attempting to obtain food before Kento could eat it all, while Yuli related to everyone the latest method of getting Rowen out of bed. Indeed, everything was peaceful.  
  
"So what's everyone doing today?" Mia asked as she reached under Kento's questing fork and speared the last two pieces of bacon. She grinned triumphantly in response to his "hrmph!"…it wasn't often any of them beat Kento to food sitting on the table. And it was only because she was looking directly at Kento that she noticed it, but while Yuli answered her question, Kento was looking at Ryo. In fact, all the boys were. Poor Ryo looked a bit uncomfortable as he answered that he intended to practice in the morning, and then he and Yuli were swimming in the lake in the afternoon. When the other Ronins chimed in that practice sounded fine, as did the swim later, Mia almost laughed at Ryo's expression. He looked rather discomfited at everyone's inclusion of themselves in his plans.  
  
Later, when she and Ryo were washing and drying the breakfast dishes, and the other boys were getting the practice equipment from downstairs, she asked him about it.  
  
"Ryo? Did you not want the guys tagging along today? I can try and distract them if you'd like," she offered.  
  
"Oh, no, that's okay Mia," Ryo answered. He focused his attention solely on the plate he was drying before glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. Should he…could he talk to Mia about this? She was a good listener… "It's just lately they seem to be…" his words came out in a rush, "well, I feel like the leader of a follow-the-leader game. And it's fine, really, but I'm not used to it." He laughed somewhat self-consciously. "I'm sure they're not doing in on purpose, but I feel like they always wait for me to decide things, and I'm not sure why, or if they're even really doing that."  
  
"If it bothers you, you should talk to them about it. I'm sure you're right, and they're not doing it on purpose, and if you mention it they may stop." Mia replied, frowning slightly in consideration. She could think of a few times outside of battles where the boys had all paused when a decision needed to be made, and come to think of it, Ryo usually spoke up with what was eventually the group consensus.  
  
"Mia, if they don't realize they're doing it, I'm certainly not going to mention it to them," Ryo answered. "That'd just make them all uncomfortable." And finishing drying the last dish, he smiled at her and headed off to join his friends outside. Apparently to Ryo, the subject was closed. But as Mia watched the boys pair off the spar, she decided that if it kept up, she'd talk to the boys herself.  
  
Outside, the boys paired off, with the odd boy out watching. Currently Rowen was being reacquainted with the flats of Sage's feet (Rowen just ducking out of the way of a kick aimed at his head), Sage having the height advantage over Rowen. Kento was attempting to use his strength to knock Ryo's swords from his hands, but Ryo's quickness was for the most part thwarting that plan. Cye, for his part, waited impatiently until they were all focused on their opponents before speaking, hoping to distract someone. The sooner someone was knocked out, the sooner he could get off the sidelines.  
  
"Hey guys? School starts in a week…" Cye announced, watching them closely for a reaction.  
  
"A week? Awwwww!!!" And Kento turned to look at him, giving Ryo the perfect opportunity to sweep his leg out, sending Kento sprawling to the ground. Ryo was on him in an instant, his sword balanced carefully at Kento's throat, ensuring that Kento lost the battle and knew it.  
  
"Man, Cye, that sucks. You did that on purpose, just cause you're tired of sitting on the sidelines," Kento grumbled as he allowed Ryo to assist him to his feet. He moved over to the tree trunk currently serving as their bench and glared at Cye as he vacated the seat.  
  
"I didn't do anything, Kento. It's not my fault Ryo's quicker than you are," Cye answered, looking as innocent as possible. Rowen laughed outright at Kento's expression, which unfortunately for him resulted in Sage grabbing his arm and throwing him to the ground, pinning him quickly. Sage grinned down at him, and with a smirk Kento bounded over to help Rowen up and make sure his position off the bench was secured.  
  
"Cye, I'm gonna get you for this!" Rowen announced as he stalked over to the bench. On top of losing the round because he laughed (laughed, for crying out loud!), now his shoulder was gonna be sore for the rest of the day. He sat down, rolling his shoulder in an attempt to head off the stiffness he knew was coming, and raised his voice slightly. "Did you have a point with your comment, Cye, or were you really just trying to get off the bench?"  
  
"Oh, no, I had a point to make," Cye answered, breathing hard. He and Ryo were fighting hand to hand now, and he was having a hard time dodging all of Ryo's shots. The ones that had gotten through had been aimed for his stomach and ribs, making breathing a more important than usual issue. What had he been talking about to Rowen? Oh yeah…"When I talked to my mom yesterday, she mentioned it, and also said that I needed to go school supply shopping. You know, paper, pencils, clothes, all the stuff you normally get before a new year sta…eek!" That last blow had nearly caught him head on, but instead was a glancing blow to the side of his head. Time to go on the offensive. He launched a series of kicks and punches that normally made his opponent retreat a few steps, but to his dismay Ryo grinned at him and blocked each move, following through with a few punches himself.  
  
"I'm still not seeing a point here, Cye," Sage calmly interjected, blocking Kento's staff with his flat edged sword, before raising the blade in a counter attack. Kento also blocked, then swung the staff at Sage's feet, hoping to make the swordsman fall to the ground. No such luck.  
  
"Yeah, Cye, you said there was a point to this conversation. Surely you can multi-task well enough to hold an intelligent conversation and spar with Ryo at the same time," Rowen taunted. Okay, it was a slightly cheap shot, but darn it, he'd now been stuck on the bench longer than anyone yet today.  
  
"Well, I was thinking," Cye answered, pausing to gulp air as Ryo pressed his attack, "That we should all head into town sometime soon, like maybe tomorrow, and get our shopping done."  
  
"Yeah, that makes sense, Cye. And surely it'll be better to undergo this torture with you guys than my mom," Rowen laughed, then continued in a high falsetto, imitating his mother. "Rowen, love, get the longer pants, you'll grow into them. And we must pick you out some shirts that aren't blue this year, darling. Surely you'd like to wear another color?" Rowen snickered to himself. He loved his mother, and both of them knew it, but if he'd wanted different colors in his wardrobe, he'd tell her so. And this was all without even getting started on the subjects of socks and underwear!  
  
Cye and Kento made a valiant effort to contain the giggles that threatened at hearing Rowen imitating his mother, but neither was able to control it. At the most inopportune moments in their own fights, they both dissolved into laughter. Cye went down immediately as Ryo tripped and pinned him, while Kento's staff was ripped out of his hands from a blow by Sage's sword. The swordsman held his blade inches from an oblivious Kento, who was doubled over, laughing too hard to notice he'd been disarmed. The warriors of Halo and Wildfire looked at each other, then down at their laughing opponents. As one, they moved away from their friends and toward each other, Ryo pausing briefly to retrieve his katanas. They reached a central point and bowed to each other before taking up a formal stance opposite each other. Rowen, noticing their movement, shushed Kento and Cye, and all three remaining troopers sat and faced the fighters. While all of the troopers were talented fighters, Ryo and Sage had something the other three didn't, something indefinable. When the two of them crossed swords, they became poetry in motion, flowing from one strike to the other seemingly without effort. The attacks and counterattacks came so quickly that at times their weapons blurred, and none of the observers were quite sure where the next blow would come from, so quickly did the opponents strike.  
  
As one, they moved, going so quickly from standing still to full-on attack mode, that none of the watchers could quite tell who moved first. Their arms fluidly in motion, their bodies making minute adjustments to each other's position, the two of them sparred, neither giving nor taking so much as an inch from the other. Their faces, carefully blank, gave no one the slightest hint as to what they were thinking, planning. Usually these matches ended in a draw, Sage and Ryo both pulling back from each other in the same motion and putting down their arms, but that never kept the other boys from watching. One of these days someone would win a match, and they would be there to witness it.  
  
Midway through the bout, Sage appeared to gain an advantage when he partially disarmed Ryo. His sword caught the underside of a katana as Ryo was raising the blade, and the blow sent the lighter sword spinning through the air a few yards behind and to the side of the combatants. Ryo, however, adjusted instantaneously, using his much quicker strikes to thwart Sage's planned attack strikes as he leapt backward from the fight. Retrieving his right sword from the ground without even looking, he raised both swords to block Sage's downward strike that, if unchecked, would have split his skull like a watermelon. Ryo, in the meantime, used the move he'd used earlier on Kento, sweeping his leg out and behind Sage's. Sage fell, as Kento had, but rolled with the fall to fluidly move back to his feet a few feet beyond Ryo's reach, moving quickly forward to begin the next round of strikes.  
  
They continued on in this manner for perhaps another 15 minutes, just long enough for both combatants' shirts to be drenched in sweat, before the two of them moved apart.  
  
"Good match, Sage. You had me worried when I lost my sword," Ryo complimented.  
  
"And to you Ryo. You needn't have worried, I never had any doubt that you'd regain your sword in plenty of time," Sage replied.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're both wonderful, enough with the compliments already!" Kento interrupted. "It's getting hot, are we going swimming now, or what?" Cye and Rowen looked at Ryo, to whom Kento had directed his question.  
  
Sage raised one golden brow at Ryo in silent inquiry. Periodically they'd continued training after one of their bouts, but today it seemed unnecessary. "What do you think, Ryo? I agree with Kento, it is getting hot, and a swim would be nice about now."  
  
"Sure, I think we've worked out enough for the day," Ryo answered calmly. "I'll meet you guys down at the lake after I retrieve Yuli. He and White Blaze were going a bit into the forest this morning to have 'adventures'," and here he grinned wryly. "Hopefully it won't take me the rest of the afternoon to find them!" And he moved off toward the woods at their back while the other boys moved as one to the house to change into swimming trunks and retrieve towels.  
  
More on the way, hopefully soon! Kahta 


	2. Period of Adjustment 2

Period of Adjustment  
  
Chapter 2  
  
'They did it again. Am I making more of an issue about this than it really is? I mean, they could just be asking my opinion to be polite, making sure I have a say in what we decide to do…but I can't help feeling it's more than that. Like they really are following my lead. And I don't mind, per se, but I also don't want to get to the point where I'm dictating what we all do,' Ryo mused as he entered the shaded forest. Following the light trail the boys had blazed after many such excursions into the forest, he reached a fork and absently took the left branch without thinking about it. 'For the next few days I'll see if I can get away with just agreeing with them, and if that works then I'm making a big deal out of nothing. But if it doesn't…well, hell, I dunno what I'll do…'  
  
"YAHHHHHH!!!!!" And with a war whoop, a 9-year old sized blur launched itself out of a nearby tree directly at Ryo, who turned even as the boy was throwing himself out of the tree. Yuli landed securely in Ryo's arms and grinned up at his hero. "Aw, man, I thought I had you this time, Ryo!"  
  
"You're getting better at it, Yuli, you got much closer this time before I suspected you were nearby," Ryo answered, smiling down at the boy.  
  
"White Blaze helped. He knew you were coming, and helped me pick out the tree," Yuli replied, proud of his friend. It wasn't every 9-year old who could boast to be friends with a tiger.  
  
"White Blaze!" Ryo jokingly whined, "You've betrayed me!" Yuli, looking over Ryo's shoulder directly at the tiger, laughed at both Ryo's antics and the expression he was sure he saw on Ryo's face. Clamping a hand to his face, Yuli choked down the rest of his giggles and turned back to Ryo. "Is it time to go swimming? It's gotten awfully hot, even in the shade. Are you guys done training? I want to start training with you, then no one would have to sit out, and I'm gonna be a Ronin Warrior when I grow up, just like you guys, so I should start practicing, and…"  
  
"Whoa, kiddo, slow down," Ryo gently interrupted the flow of words from the younger boy. "Yes, it's time to go swimming, so let's go get changed and down to the lake before the guys use up all the water in the lake," and Yuli giggled again. "We finished up practice just a bit ago, and I came to get you two while they went to change and get towels. And as for you being a Ronin Warrior, okay, what armor are you going to have?" Ryo was amused, but his tone was serious. That was one of the things Yuli liked best about Ryo, he never patronized him like some other adults did.  
  
"Armor of Wildfire, of course," Yuli replied.  
  
"Planning to do away with me to inherit my armor, are we?" Ryo joked.  
  
"Oh. I hadn't thought of that," Yuli answered, face falling a bit. He frowned in concentration. "That leaves out everyone else's armors too, so I guess I'll have to have a new one that we don't know about yet," he answered after a minute of thought.  
  
"Sounds good to me, Yuli," Ryo replied. "We'll have Mia keep her eyes out for new armors while she's looking through those dusty ol' books of hers, okay?"  
  
"Okay!" And Yuli squirmed out of Ryo's arms and bounced ahead of him on the trail, breaking into a sprint when he got to the edge of the forest. Ryo watched him go with a smile on his face, then turned inquiringly to White Blaze.  
  
"Was I ever that young?"  
  
And proving once more that White Blaze was no ordinary tiger, he gave a muffled "Hmph!" in answer.  
  
"Aw, c'mon, they're taking forever, we don't gotta wait for them really, do we? It's hot, this is stupid, it's not like they won't just join us when they get here!" Kento whined, for what seemed the millionth time to his semi-captive audience.  
  
"No, Kento," replied three voices wearily. They'd been over this repeatedly since Ryo went to get Yuli, and frankly Kento was starting to try their patience. Sage forged on, reiterating an argument that he knew they were all tired of. "We said we'd wait for Ryo and Yuli when we separated, and we're going to."  
  
"But they don't know we're waiting for them, so why does it make a difference? I'm roasting out here, and I know you guys are too, so why aren't we in that nice cool water?" Kento was relentless in his arguments.  
  
"Because we know that we agreed to wait, and we have willpower, unlike certain others we could name!" Rowen spoke, frustrated. "Look, we want to be in the water as badly as you do, but we agreed to wait and we will. So knock it off already!"  
  
"But…" Kento's argument, which was in all likelihood about to get him brained by Rowen, was cut off when Yuli ran out of the woods nearest them. He waved excitedly, yelling to them as he steered himself toward the house.  
  
"Wow, you guys waited for us, we'll hurry, promise, I kept telling Ryo and White Blaze to go faster, but Ryo kept stopping and laughing at something, and they wouldn't tell me what it was, and…" Whatever else the boy had to say was cut off as he entered the house, though all four older boys could slightly hear his voice, indicating he was continuing with his story even now. Ryo emerged from the tree line seconds later, still giggling slightly over whatever it was in the woods he'd found amusing. He waved at his friends by the water before saying something softly to White Blaze. The tiger cocked his head inquiringly at Ryo, then watched silently as Ryo took off for the house in a sprint. White Blaze heaved a sigh, then ran after the Ronin of Fire. As if he couldn't beat the boy in a race to the house if he wanted to!  
  
"Finally!" Kento exclaimed. "Honestly, what took them so long?"  
  
"Oh, please, Kento, you've gone after Yuli and disappeared for hours at a time," Cye pointed out. He wanted to be in the water probably more than Kento did, but that the slighter boy had more patience just went without saying.  
  
"And I almost snuck up on Ryo this time, I really did, guys! He walked right under the tree I was in, and even started to go past me before I jumped him." Yuli was back, still obviously excited. He paused momentarily, completely out of breath. "He caught me though, but I got so much closer this time! And Ryo says I can be a Ronin Warrior when I grow up just like you guys, but he says I can't have any of your armors cause then you'd be dead, and that wouldn't be any fun. So I'm gonna ask Mia to find a new armor in one of her dusty books that she's always reading, and I'll have that one and then we can be a team!"  
  
"You guys caught up on Yuli's day yet?" Ryo's voice dryly inquired. Seeing the Ronins wide-eyed expressions, Ryo grinned over at Yuli. "Did you tell them you were gonna kill them for their armors?"  
  
"Not exactly," Yuli grinned back at Ryo. "I said I couldn't have their armors cause then they'd be dead."  
  
"Oh, yes, that's a completely different thing, Yuli. A much more cheerful point of view. I guess I'm special then, since I was the only one you were willing to kill off?" Ryo teased, ruffling Yuli's hair just in case the younger boy thought he was serious.  
  
"Aw, Ryo, you know I didn't mean it like that," Yuli blushed, quite embarrassed. He needed to change the subject, and now… "Are we going swimming, or are we gonna wait for Mia?"  
  
"Mia's coming?" Sage questioned. At Ryo's nod, he continued, "We invited her earlier, but she was working on something and didn't want the distraction."  
  
"I think she was getting frustrated with whatever she's working on, so she said she'd be down as soon as she finished the page she was on. But she told us not to wait for her," Ryo said quickly, seeing the frustrated look on Kento's face.  
  
"Yahoo, we can go in now!" Kento cried. He grabbed hold of Yuli and sprinted toward the water, laughing manically until he and the younger boy were quite submerged. Cye grinned at his friends before he too ran for the water, diving cleanly off the short pier and coming up just behind Kento, who turned in time to receive a splash of water from directly in front of him and off to the side. With the battle lines thus drawn, Cye and Yuli against Kento, the war proceeded.  
  
"You guys waited for us? Why, it's so hot out," Ryo asked. Not that he didn't enjoy the heat and humidity, but he knew the others didn't.  
  
"It was the polite thing to do," Sage replied, faint color staining his cheeks. Now that Ryo asked, why had they decided to wait for him?  
  
Ryo looked at him oddly, then let the matter drop, moving toward the water. Rowen and Sage looked at each other questioningly, both wondering the same thing. 'Why did we wait? It's not like they wouldn't just join us when they got here'.  
  
"It was polite? That was the best you could do?" Rowen drawled, moving away from his friend to spread a thick towel against the ground. He had no intention of going into the water until he knew there was a nice sun- warmed towel waiting for him.  
  
"Well, it was," Sage replied defensively. "And I didn't see you coming up with a valid reason for waiting, Rowen."  
  
"That's cause I'm not sure why we did, now that it's been brought up," Rowen answered. "I'll get back to you when I figure it out." And he too bolted for the water that had been beckoning them all since mid- morning.  
  
After nearly an hour in the pond, everyone was thoroughly cooled off, and equally exhausted. Mia's arrival had heralded a new water war, and she, Cye, Ryo and Yuli had emerged triumphant over the other three boys. Kento, Rowen and Sage had been so thoroughly doused with water that they only moved toward shore after their opponents had completely withdrawn from the field of battle, lying spread on the towels Sage had spread out for all of them. They lay on the towels drying, drowsy from the warmth of the sun and the towels under them.  
  
"So are we going into the city tomorrow, guys?" Cye asked. "We never decided this morning."  
  
When no response was forthcoming from his companions, Cye grabbed his water bottle and flicked some at Ryo, who happened to be lying next to him. The half-asleep Ronin jerked upright with a startled gasp and a near-shout of "What the hell??," looking around wildly for the source of the cold water. Though all the boys laughed at his shocked expression, Cye's grin betrayed him as the starting point of the cold.  
  
"What was that for?" Ryo demanded irritably. He'd been comfortably baking in the now sweltering humidity, on the cusp of actual sleep. Cye's wakening him had been an unbelievable shock.  
  
"You didn't answer my question," Cye grinned at the disgruntled Ryo. He couldn't help smiling at him, even though judging from his expression Ryo would as soon murder him as talk to him at the moment.  
  
"That's because I was mostly ASLEEP, and didn't HEAR your question," Ryo snapped, flinging himself back onto his towel.  
  
"Well, now that you're awake, are we going into town tomorrow?" Cye repeated.  
  
"Didn't we decide this morning that we were?" Ryo questioned wearily. This wasn't fair, he'd been so comfortable just drifting in that stage between sleep and awake. And to be woken for this? It was ridiculous.  
  
"No, we didn't," Cye patiently answered. "So are we going tomorrow, or not?"  
  
"Fine, yes, anything to get you to leave me alone!" Ryo promised, settling himself more comfortably. "Mia, can you drive us into town tomorrow morning?"  
  
"Sure, Ryo," she replied. "I needed to hit the library tomorrow anyways."  
  
"Then if that's settled, leave me alone, Cye." As Cye opened his mouth to reply, Ryo interrupted him. "We'll work out logistics later this evening, after we head back inside. And if you dump any more water on me," he added with a menacing look at the half-full water bottle, "I foresee a lot of problems with stoves, ovens, barbecues and broilers in your future." And with his threat successfully delivered (Cye paled at the thought of a pissed off Ryo manipulating the many flames he worked with while he cooked), Ryo turned onto his stomach, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.  
  
Mia, lying slightly apart from the boys, couldn't return to the nice half-drowsing state she'd previously been in, however. She'd heard the interaction between Ryo and Cye (who hadn't? Ryo really hadn't liked that cold water), and it had gotten her thinking about this mornings talk with the Ronin of Fire. It was entirely possible that the deciding vote for tomorrow's plans had been left to Ryo by chance, but it seemed to happen a lot lately. Judging by Ryo's show of temper moments ago, he was no happier to be making decisions this afternoon than he'd been this morning. Resolutely, Mia decided that if Ryo wouldn't talk to his friends about this, she would.  
  
"Cye?"  
  
"Yes, Yuli?" Cye questioned. The boy had just recently joined them on the towels, having a great deal more energy to expend than the older boys did. White Blaze had taken over the job of entertaining the youngster, beginning a seemingly endless of game of tag in which poor Yuli was 'it' far more often than the tiger. Yuli had finally collapsed on his towel panting, having been quite worn out by his playmate.  
  
"What're we having for dinner? I'm starving, I might eat more than Kento tonight!"  
  
"Um…I hadn't thought about it yet, Yuli," Cye replied evasively. He had in fact planned an elaborate meal of steaks, corn on the cob, rolls and baked potatoes. He paled when he realized exactly how many open flames that would involve, and grimaced before answering, "How does a salad sound?" And he couldn't be entirely sure, because Ryo was facing away from him, but he was pretty sure Wildfire smirked at his answer.  
  
'This evening has seriously gone downhill,' Ryo mused as he expertly flipped the steaks he and Yuli were grilling for their dinner. White Blaze hovered on the edge of their vision, intent on stealing at least one steak before Ryo finished the cooking. Between keeping a watchful eye on Yuli (who was a little too interested in his hero's element for everyone's comfort levels), White Blaze the would-be-thief, and pondering his own problems, Ryo had his hands full, figuratively if not literally.  
  
It hadn't escaped his notice that during the earlier conversation on the beach, his opinion had apparently been the deciding vote about the shopping excursion. As the afternoon had progressed, it seemed that everyone had sought his opinion out for one thing or another. The problems themselves were minor, his involvement in them even more so, but the fact remained that he was continually being involved in things he felt were none of his business. On the one hand, it was nice to think that his opinion was so highly valued by his friends, but on the other hand Ryo couldn't help but think that this was more a habit than a genuine desire for his opinion. During the battle with Talpa and his minions, someone had had to take charge, make the hard decisions. That someone had ended up being Ryo, and he had a sneaking suspicion that the trend was now continuing over into everyday life for no real reason other than a sense of continuity.  
  
And it wasn't that he minded the questions, nor did he begrudge his friends his help. But some of the things he was being involved in were beyond his scope of experience, causing him to question not only his involvement, but his friends' motives as well. What on earth did they think he knew about clothing stores in the city? The newest upcoming video game system? And why was he always being called upon to settle disputes between the boys? He was the one with the fiery temper, for goodness' sake!  
  
Absently batting a hand at White Blaze's paw, he used his other hand to steady Yuli, who'd been rather too close to tripping and falling directly into the barbecue, all the while wondering what was going on with his friends.  
  
"Aren't the steaks done yet? I'm starving!" Kento announced to the room at large, looking for sympathy at the very least, or in the best-case scenario, something to munch on until dinner was ready.  
  
"Yuli was just in, said Ryo thinks another ten minutes, Kento," Cye replied. "Surely you can last that long?"  
  
"Oh, I don't know, Cye, he's a growing boy. He might pass out from hunger before those steaks are done," Rowen smirked. When Kento started to rise slowly from his chair at the table, clearly with the intent of going after him, Rowen tossed a carrot stick in his direction. Appeased by the munchie, Kento sank back down in his chair.  
  
"Is Yuli coming with us tomorrow?" Sage asked suddenly, out of the blue as far as everyone was concerned.  
  
"Um, yes? Otherwise one of us would have to stay with him here? Not to mention that he'll need school clothes and supplies just like the rest of us," Mia answered.  
  
"That's what I figured, but we hadn't specifically mentioned it, so I wanted to double check," Sage said. "Which of us is taking him with them tomorrow?"  
  
"Ask Ryo," Rowen replied, tossing another carrot to Kento, who'd been looking longingly out the back door toward the barbeque. "I'm sure he's already planned that out."  
  
"Um….why?" Mia asked.  
  
"Why what, Mia?"  
  
"Why do you think Ryo has planned out whose taking Yuli around the mall tomorrow?" She clarified.  
  
"Uh…well, cause he's Ryo. Ryo plans. He's like, I dunno, the planner," Rowen answered, looking uncomfortable.  
  
"Since when?" Mia pressed. "I can distinctly remember times during the war when Ryo was the last person to come up with a plan, the last one we expected to plan anything! Why is he suddenly the man with the plan?" Rowen was still looking uncomfortable, but this was a golden opportunity to point out what the boys had been doing lately. Judging from the boys expressions, none of them had realized what they'd been doing, much less had any idea what she was talking about.  
  
"What's this about, Mia?" Sage asked calmly from the other end of the table. "You don't really object to us soliciting Ryo's opinon?"  
  
"No, I don't, that's fine. But you're doing it all the time, lately. It seems like you're not willing to do anything without asking him about it first," Mia replied.  
  
"That's not true, Mia," Kento answered, defensively. "We all do our own things all the time!"  
  
In answer, Mia rattled off all the things the boys had asked of Ryo during the day. Their eyes widened in surprise when they realized what she'd just said, then they looked at each other. "And that's just today, guys. So what's going on?"  
  
"Nothing's going on, Mia," Rowen replied, also defensively. "You're making a big deal out of nothing."  
  
"It's not nothing, Rowen. It's making Ryo uncomfortable, haven't you noticed?" Mia asked, exasperated. Honestly, were they being this dense on purpose??  
  
"Well if it bothers Ryo so much, Mia, we'll leave him alone from now on. Will that make you both happy?" Kento, uncomfortable with this conversation, decided to go on the attack.  
  
'What? No! Kento, don't, he didn't even want me to say anything to you. If you're angry, please don't take this out on him, it's not his fault," Mia pleaded. How had they gotten to this point? This wasn't at all what she intended when she started this conversation, and it looked now like the boys were angry with Ryo.  
  
"Don't worry, Mia, we won't say a word to Ryo about this," Cye hastened to reassure her, "but…"  
  
"But," Sage interrupted, "We will adjust our behavior to ensure that Ryo is no longer uncomfortable."  
  
"Um, all right…so you're not angry about this? Everything's okay?" Mia asked, unsure if she'd made things worse.  
  
"No, it's not!" Kento slammed his fist down on the table, startling everyone. "If Ryo had a problem with something, he should've come to us about it rather than go behind our backs to you!"  
  
"Kento," Mia and Cye both started, hurriedly attempting to calm to the bigger boy.  
  
"No, don't even try. I think I have a right to be angry if I'm being talked about behind my back. All of us do," Kento replied angrily.  
  
"It wasn't like that, Kento, really it wasn't. He didn't even mention it in the first place, I did, please don't be angry with him!" Mia pleaded.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Mia, I'm not gonna go beat him up or anything. But if Ryo has a problem with us, then I'll leave him alone. See if he likes that any better," and Kento marched out of the room and settled himself in front of the TV, angrily flipping the channels faster than the eye could focus on the screen.  
  
"Guys?" Mia's voice was pleading, asking for understanding.  
  
"Just let it go, Mia," Sage answered coolly. "We'll work this out somehow. Just give us some time, okay?"  
  
Glancing at Sage's carefully blank expression, to Cye and Rowens' neutral looks, Mia felt something heavy settle in the pit of her stomach. She had a bad feeling the rest of the week was going to be uncomfortable, probably more so for Ryo than herself. And the poor guy hadn't even done anything!  
  
"Okay," she answered unhappily, rising and going out the backdoor the check on the status of the steaks. As far as she was concerned, dinner couldn't be over and done with soon enough.  
  
  
  
Obviously TBC…happiness of happiness, for some inexplicable reason my local KB had Ronin Warrior toys this past weekend! I got Ryo, Sage, Cye and Rowen, but alas, they had no Kento! (Could've gotten all the warlords, though, and probably should've). Ah, I do so love collecting toys! Okay, so anyways, more to come, and thanks to those of you who review. Most of me is doing this story for me, but at the same time I really do appreciate getting feedback, as does most every writer. So thanks! 


	3. Chapter 3

Period of Adjustment

So, periodically in the last FEW YEARS! (EEK!), I've thought about updating this, particularly when someone sent me a review, but I always got sidetracked and didn't do it. But today, I get a notice I'm 'favorited!' as a story, so I thought I'd give it a try. Here's chapter 3 (OMG!), and I'm actually working on chapter 4. We'll see if it happens like it SHOULD this time!

Period of Adjustment

Chapter 3

'I seem to be missing some important memos,' Ryo sighed to himself the next morning.

Everyone had been up for close to an hour, though obviously the early risers had been awake longer. And in that hour that everyone had been jockeying for kitchen and table position, Ryo had noticed that the strange behavior that had begun last night had continued this morning, though more so.

After dinner last night, Ryo had asked Kento if he wanted to battle with him, via the video games they'd set up in a corner of the living room. Kento had declined, almost coldly, saying that he had other things to do. The other things, Ryo found out later, involved watching an incredibly bad B movie with Rowen. Watching it for a few moments over their shoulders (Kento and Rowen having shifted so there was no room left on the couch), Ryo had made a few joking comments to Rowen about the astoundingly bad special effects for the movie. Normally Rowen would respond accordingly, huffing in mock exasperation and defending his beloved movies, but this time Rowen had mostly ignored Ryo, finally turning around and pointedly asking him if he didn't have something better to do, elsewhere? Ryo had taken the not so subtle hint and left, migrating into the kitchen, wondering at the sudden bad moods of both of his friends.

The strangeness continued in the kitchen, leaving Ryo totally confused. Sage had been working on a puzzle at the kitchen table, while Cye had been rustling around in the kitchen, doing goodness only knows what, wandering by the puzzle periodically to place a piece in it's appropriate slot, then returning to the counters. Ryo had barely opened his mouth to ask permission to help with the puzzle, when Sage looked up and fixed him with an unblinking stare that made him forget what he'd been about to say. Cye choose that moment to wander over, and standing behind Sage's shoulder, looked blankly at Ryo before turning back toward the kitchen. Obviously not wanted in the kitchen either, Ryo had headed for the back stairs, intent on finding Mia and asking if she knew what was going on.

Mia had provided no answers, though she came dangerously close to provoking more questions. She'd avoided meeting his eyes when he'd asked her if he'd done anything wrong, and had busied herself in her studying almost immediately, losing herself in what she was researching and answering most of his inquiries with an distracted "hmmmm?" that frustrated him immeasurably. Finally realizing he wasn't getting any explanation for anything this night, he'd gone running with White Blaze, something that helped calm him enough to sleep through the night.

This morning, things were even stranger, and considering everyone's behavior last night, that was truly saying something. The boys were sullen and short tempered, snapping at each other and largely ignoring Ryo, and Mia wouldn't look at anyone for long before going back to staring at her plate. Yuli was the only one acting normally, chattering on about the shopping trip and what he wanted to get for school. Ryo kept glancing at his friends in confusion; he'd obviously done something wrong, but he couldn't for the life of him think what. After one long and awkward silence too many, he gave a mental shrug and applied himself to his breakfast. Either he'd be told what he'd done, or he wouldn't, but he couldn't change the way anyone was acting. One could only react to the circumstances around oneself for so long before you had to act, and he'd reached that point late last evening. Time to take the initiative.

"Yuli, you're gonna team up with me at the mall today, right? Show me around, take me to the good stores? I don't really know my way around there, I'd probably go into all the wrong stores without some help!" Ryo grinned at the younger boy, who looked up with a beaming smile at the thought of spending the day with Ryo. He'd been sure he'd be paired with Cye or Sage for shopping, and they'd probably make him get practical clothing with ridiculous amounts of room to grow into. He hadn't been looking forward to it.

"Wow, really Ryo, you want me to show you around? I'd love to, and I know all the best places to shop, my mom used to take me there all the time for school clothes." He looked downcast briefly, but smiled softly when he met Ryo's understanding gaze.

"Sounds like a plan, Yuli. Let's go get ready, okay? Maybe if we get moving, everyone else will stop dawdling so much and get going sometime soon!" And with a smile at the younger boy, he grabbed and hoisted him over his shoulder, tickling him even as they went through the door into the living room.

Five pairs of eyes had watched the duo leave the room, but when the door swung shut behind them they refocused on the table and their companions. Seeing similar expressions of discomfort on each face, Mia's temper snapped.

"You're all being perfectly ridiculous, you know!" Mia bit out angrily. "Ryo has never said or done anything to any of you, and you're going to let something stupid like this come between you all?"

"He may not have said anything, Mia, but you told us quite plainly yesterday how he felt," Rowen pointed out.

"And I shouldn't have said anything," Mia admitted. "I was trying to help, and I've just made a horrible mess out of everything." She sighed, tilting her head to look unblinkingly at the ceiling. "I wish I hadn't said anything, but still, can't you five talk this out?"

"Oh, sure, that'd go over well," Kento replied sarcastically. "Ryo, you've never mentioned this to us, but we really need to talk to you about the fact that you're uncomfortable and would prefer we not hang out with you as much as we've been," he said bitingly. "Yeah, that should solve all the problems we're having this morning."

"Oh, forget it," Mia said angrily, shoving her chair back from the table. "You're all being children. Ryo didn't do anything, but you're all perfectly willing to be angry at him for it anyway! I didn't express myself well yesterday anyway! If you're going to be angry, you should at least be angry at what he says, not at what I said he said! All of you should just…just…oh, grow up!"

The shopping trip was pure hell—only Ryo and Yuli acted even remotely normal; the others were irritable and had a tendency to snap at anyone who appeared in their line of sight. The next few days were horrible as well. Ryo still had no idea what he'd done to piss everyone off, so spent the majority of his time with either Yuli or White Blaze. The boys missed his presence, even though none of them would admit it, and began wondering independently if they weren't overreacting a bit. After all, Ryo hadn't really said anything, had he? And Mia had said she'd expressed his opinion badly…maybe it wasn't as bad as they were making it out to be? But none of them could figure out a way to subtly ask Ryo what exactly he did mean, since they'd never really broached the topic with him before the blowup.

Ryo had tried to talk to Mia about the odd behavior a few more times, but after she'd avoided the last attempted conversation, and his eyes, he'd given it up and left her alone. It just wasn't in Ryo's nature to make anyone uncomfortable if he could avoid it, so he let her be. In turn this just made Mia feel guiltier about the problems she'd caused, and she took to spending a lot of time in her room, ostensibly 'researching' her grandfather's computer files. She'd caused enough damage the last time she'd tried to help, so this time she resolved to stay completely out of it. If nothing else, she hoped that once school started, things would settle down and maybe go back to normal.


End file.
